Trial of pope's butler to start September 29: Vatican

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI's former butler and a Vatican computer technician will go on trial starting Sept 29 on charges of leaking secret papers that revealed fraud and intrigue in the Holy See.

The butler, Paolo Gabriele, has told investigators he was acting as an agent for the Holy Spirit to rid the Catholic Church of "evil and corruption".

He is accused of aggravated theft, which carries a sentence of up to six years in prison, in a scandal dubbed "Vatileaks" by the Italian press.

Gabriele will stand trial together with Claudio Sciarpelletti, who according to court papers played a secondary messenger role in an unprecedented scandal that has threatened to expose major rifts at the heart of the Catholic Church.